A 10-year-old girl, who took her mother to court for refusing to abide by an agreement that she pay the child 350 yuan (US$49) a month, has been awarded nearly 39,000 yuan and payments of 1,000 yuan a month backdated to October last year.

Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court heard that the mother, Zhang, who divorced the girl’s father in 2009, had not paid anything for nine years despite an agreement that she pay 350 yuan a month for her daughter.

The girl had asked for compensation for the unpaid money and an increase in future payments.

Zhang said she had paid cash each time she visited her daughter. But her ex-husband said she rarely visited and had never given them any money.

An earlier court said there was no evidence to prove Zhang's account and it said an amount of 1,000 yuan a month was reasonable.

Zhangappealed to the intermediate court, saying she was unemployed and asking that payments be reduced to 800 yuan a month.

Her appeal was rejected. The court said Zhang was capable of finding a job and that she should work hard to get out of her current economic problems and take responsibility for her daughter.